CHEVROLET IN NHRA
AMALIE MOTOR OIL NHRA GATORNATIONALS
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA
TEAM CHEVY SATURDAY QUALIFYING REPORT
March 11, 2023
CHEVROLET SHOWS STRENGTH IN SEASON-OPENING NHRA GATORNATIONALS QUALIFYING AT GAINESVILLE
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA (March 11, 2023) – Qualifying for the 2023 season-opening AMALIE Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals has been completed, setting the ladders for Sunday’s eliminations at Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida. Team Chevy led the way in Top Fuel, with Brittany Force setting the stage as the No. 1 qualifier, her 43rd in NHRA, and facing Keith Murt No. 16 in Round 1. Qualifying No. 12, Austin Prock will take on No. 5 Clay Millican in the first round on race day.
In Funny Car, 16-time champion John Force qualified No. 2 with his pass of 3.878 ET at 332.59 MPH. Teammate Robert Hight was right behind Force in the No. 3 spot, going 3.879 ET at 333.99 MPH.
Pro Stock saw Troy Coughlin, Jr. besting Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders with his Q3 run, taking the top spot in qualifying with his pass of 6.515 ET at 212.29 MPH. He will face No. 16 qualifier Larry Morgan in Round 1 tomorrow morning, while last year’s champion Enders will take on No. 15’s Jerry Tucker.
In FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown, Aaron Stanfield led the way in his COPO Camaro after qualifying No. 1 with a run at 7.655 ET at 179.49 MPH. Pairing down the field from 24 cars qualified to 12 in Round 1, then to six in Round 2 Saturday afternoon, the remaining challengers will compete for the Gatornationals Wally in eliminations Sunday.
“It’s pretty cool to be able to accomplish that with your team,” notes Force on her 43rd No. 1 qualifier in 213 races. “No. 1 qualifiers are always great as long as we deliver on Sunday. That’s the main thing. We struggled with that in the past; we’d have all these No. 1 qualifier hats. We’d grab points, but then we would struggle so bad on race day. The game plan coming into the last few seasons is we wanted to do both, and we definitely turned things around last season where we ended up with the championship. So same game plan coming into this season, and we’ll have to deliver tomorrow.”
“We’re just getting started,” stated Coughlin Jr. “We hope we can build off of it. It’s a testament to the boys in the engine shop. They’ve worked hard on the dyno. It’s a long, seven days a week job for those guys. They work hard, a lot of research and development, a lot of hours that go into that. My family had a similar deal with that with Coughlin Brothers Racing. So we have an idea of the time that it takes and the effort that it takes. Big kudos to them. To have a pole right off the bat, that’s a huge honor.”
Today’s Gatornationals qualifying from Gainesville will be broadcast Sunday morning on FS1 at 9 a.m. ET, leading into race day eliminations starting at noon ET on FOX.
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is one of the world’s largest car brands, doing business in more than 100 countries and selling more than 4.0 million cars and trucks a year. Chevrolet provides customers with fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.
